Seal material



March 8, 1960 R. H. BAsKEY ETAL `2,927,370

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Patented Mar. s, i960 1 present invention wereevaluated, consisted of a'tool steel and a nickel base Inconel having the following oomz,9z7,31o l Posmms:

SEAL MATERIAL 5 Raymond H. naskey and Eiwyn D. Fisher, Lakewood, f 'N1 steel mm Ohlo, assignorslto Horizons Incorporated, Cleveland, Ohio,acorporat1on of New Jason., l l o ,tobrrlldfgompdsmond i Appncanonvrune 20,1958, sexisme. 743,314 l lo l v l lotggg? gil-93% Y Claims. Y d 521.30? Nl, except for V. V. Balance Fe, except for impurities. i impurities.

l This invention relates to a seal material capable of l improved operation at'the elevated speeds and tempera- In the above ldeutlFd oopondmg 'Patent aPPllotton: tures likely lo be encountered iu present day and futuro the preparation of bearing materials composed of mcliel, aircraft and other applications. More particularly it Sltvfu and .Sulnll amounts of refractory metal carbide, relates to compositions of matter and seals prepared from boude of Sthotoe Was found to 'be doslfttbty attained PY i such compositions, adapted to function as portions of a 20 a Powder metallurgy Process 1 Whleh smtermg and m' l rotary Sol assembly Said Compositions comprising tuug. liltration with silver were carried out as separate steps. l sten bolide bonded with nickel and infiltrated with Inthe present invention it was found that the preparasilvou tion of seal materials containing between 60% and 90% There are many important applications wherein maby Weight of tungsten oo rido Wasoooompl'ishod satis' terials are subjected to rubbing, either continuously or 'faetonly only when some Sdver was lneluded m the edm' intermittently, and particularly those applications wherein P aot Poot' to lottratton and that when 'this was d ono it is diilicultFA or even impossible to provide a lubricant sfntet'mg d nd mdltratlon, could bo aeeomlhshed m a to the contact area. Such applications include inaclSmglo hoatmg StoP Attempte to dau of the 1-"oreS by cosslble portions' of rotating shafts for oxmplo The adding all of the silver by inlltration of a silver-free problem is rendered particularly acute in ,instances in Pofofm Wore lnedeutual, POSSlblY because of a reluc-rV which the surfaces are exposed to high temperatures, and tance to Wet one or more of the other eonstttuents of the for corrosive environments, and are requiredl to function oompostdon at high speeds. Essentially the procedure found to be suitable consisted l In the past, seal materials have been sought which of the following Steps? would function in the absence of any external lubrica- (t) A mtxtdre was formed of -tudgsten boude silver tion, possibly through the form-ation of a stable ilm on Powder and nickel powder' The Sdver.was preferdbly the'co-niponents wearing against one another-or by other mums 325 mesh (Tyler Standarm the nickel was minus mechanisms not fully understood 200 mesh to plus 325 mesh, and the boride was. eoufally By the present. invention there is presented va. material fine' BY 5mg s deh nely divided Powders mummy suitable for rotating seal components subjected to op- 40 of mlxmg was faclhtated eration: at temperatures of up to about 1350 F.; at (2) The mixed Powders Were Placed *to o die ond Sliding speeds of up to about 30,000 feet per minute; at pressed at 25 tons per square inch -to give a cylindrical loads up to ,about 14 pounds per Square inchgage; .and specimen. Pressures between 20 tons per square inch under service conditions wherein no liquid or'solid (powand 35 ODS Per Square inch would appear to be equally der) lubricant could be supplied to the surfassatisfactory, depending on the specimen size and con- Figures l and 2 show graphically, wear rates ofcertain gurddor," materials at various test temporalures (3 Silver, in an amount somewhat in excess of that In an earlier copending application for patent, Serial requred to completely mdltiate the eompoet to 100% ,No 585,859 filed May 18, 195,6 and now issued as density, was placed in physical contact withv the com- Umied states Patent 2,875,510 there are described eom- Pact and Preferably 0n top 0f t11""0H1Pa-u positions consisting of between 45% and 82% by weight .(4) The eompae and sdver were heated at tempera' of nickel, between about 3%- .by weight nid 20% by tures of about 12150 C. for about two (2*) hours under a t weight of a refractory boride and the balance essentially dry hydrogen atmosphere to melt the silver and Permit v all silver or a silver base alloy. Such compositions were if to be absorbed into the pores of the compact' found to provide improved bearing materials. In the (5) The resulting Specimen WaS examined fOr l10- present invention, instead of a composition predominantly mogenely, Phases, dnsity and appearance and then maconsisting of nickel, there is provided a material, the Chilled t0tl1edeSirCdShaPandSiZemajor proportion of which consists of tungsten boride, The resulting material WaS found t0 Contain 4 Phases: and which includes smaller amounts of nickel and silver. a nickel rich-tungsten bOrdc Phase having a Vickers Thus, like the earlier disclosed invention, a material with hardness Of between about 700 and 1000; a tungsten a duplex structure is used to provide a low-friction, lowbOIde Phase; a nickel Phase; and a Silver Phasewear combination, but unlike the earlier application, the For purposes 0f comparison wear rates of one tungsten harder phase predominates in the commi/[ions of this boride-nickel-silver composition and one molybdenum invention. v boride-nickel-silver composition tested under identical l In brief, in accordance rwith the present invention, comcndiiODS are ShOWll in the drawings, in Which positions have been devised consisting primarily of tung- Figure l iS n graph 0f Wear fates 'against n i001 Steel sten boride, `bonded by means of nickel larid including 'silat ValOuS temperatures; and

ver as a lubricating phase. These compositions have Figure 2 iS n g1' apn 0f Wear Fates aganSt nCOnel aS 'at been tested against special surfaces, as described below Variousv temperatures.

at high rates of relative movement, high temperatures Other comPOSidOnS Were prepared and tested and it and in the absence of any added lubricant. The mating was found that the relative proportions of tungsten boride, surfaces against which the compositions comprising the nickel and silver could be varied over asubstantial range without impairing y'the keffectiveness of vthe material'at n elevated temperatures..1`hus .whenlemployingthe .prof

cedure described above, compositions were'prepared having the following constituents, by weight: between 60% and 90% `ottuttgsten bende-between 10% andi 20% vof' llinkelgandfbetween-5% and 20% of silver` Compositions wthin these ranges were tested and found to possess a desirable combination of physical properties and very low wear 4rates ascompared with other hard materials, including borides, nitrides and silicides of the metals of groups V A and VI A of the periodic table.

We claim:

1. A composition of matter possessing excellent wear resistance at elevated temperatures which consists essentially of between 60% and 90% by weight of tungsten boride, between 10% and 20% by weight of nickel, and lbetween 5% and 20% by weight of silver.

2. A wear resistant composition of matter consisting 4. essentially of from 60% to 90% by weight of tungsten boride, .from 10% to- 20% by weight of nickel andthe balance, silver in an amount sufficient to provide a substantially 100% dense material and consisting of at least 5% by weight of the composition.

3. A sintered composition consisting essentially of about 60%'by weight of. tungsten boride, about 20% vby weight of nickel and about 20% by weight of silver.

. FOREIGN PATENTS 747,483 Great Britain Apr. 4, 1956 

1. A COMPOSITION OF MATTER POSSESSING EXCELLENT WEAR RESISTANCE AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES WHICH CONSISTS ESSENTIALLY OF BETWEEN 60% AND 90% BY WEIGHT OF TUNGSTEN BORIDE, BETWEEN 10% AND 20% BY WEIGHT OF NICKEL, AND BETWEEN 5% AND 20% BY WEIGHT OF SILVER. 